Year-ender: Hit Chinese variety shows in 2024

Stand-up Comedy and Friends

After a year's hiatus, stand-up comedy returned in style in 2024, tackling life's troubles with humor and wit.

Stand-up Comedy and Friends is a comedy competition show produced by Tencent Video. Premiering on Aug 20, 2024, it quickly became a sensation on social media.

Featuring more than 50 comedians, the program brought together a mix of veteran performers and rising stars competing in multiple rounds. In addition to renowned comedians such as Xu Zhisheng and Hu Lan, who gained fame in past competitions, the new season has introduced a diverse group of new faces. Notable newcomers such as the comedy duo Manzai Brothers (Xu Haolun and Tan Xiangwen) and Xiaoyu, a Peking University medical student performing under this stage name, entertained audiences with their distinctive styles.

The Manzai Brothers secured the championship with their signature manzai style, humorously depicting everyday situations with absurd and surreal twists. In one performance, they highlighted a fingerprint lock on a rented apartment, which could only be unlocked by singing the song "Fingerprint". A duet could even "open double doors", leaving the audience in laughter.

According to Enlightent, the ten-episode program received 230 million views on Tencent Video, while its major topic on Weibo, "Stand-up Comedy and Friends", amassed 1 billion views.